Anyone figured this out? I am considering constructing gaskets for both openings. Maybe fine silicone tubing, or strips of rubber, foam inulating strips, or something, I have not seen anything yet but will continue looking in Home Depot for a solution.

Any ideas would be welcome. I do not want to encapsulate the electronics. I have it all raised about 1" off the bottom of the bird. The RX is on a Foam block.

Another tip is the wing mount plywood sheld fell off in my hand, I woy remove it and re-epoxy it to the foam for safety.

Anyone figured this out? I am considering constructing gaskets for both openings. Maybe fine silicone tubing, or strips of rubber, foam inulating strips, or something, I have not seen anything yet but will continue looking in Home Depot for a solution.

Any ideas would be welcome. I do not want to encapsulate the electronics. I have it all raised about 1" off the bottom of the bird. The RX is on a Foam block.

Another tip is the wing mount plywood sheld fell off in my hand, I woy remove it and re-epoxy it to the foam for safety.

SWR

Best way is form in place RTV gaskets.

Put a bead of RTV silicone on the wing saddle, cover the bottom of the wing in the saddle area with saran wrap with the wrinkles carefully pulled out. Bolt the wing in place and allow the RTV to cure. Unbolt wing and carefully remove saran wrap from cured rubber. Trim excess RTV with a fresh #11 blade.

Same process on the canopy joint. This is how I used to seal the wing saddles and hatches on glow models to prevent oil from seeping in...also on glow seaplanes for waterproofing.

This helps a lot, but is not 100% perfect. No gasket will be, due to airframe flex when bouncing on the water.

I highly suggest also placing the RX in a baggie and tying off the holes int he baggie for the wirings to exit. and putting a bit of RTV (the electronics variety is best for this use) at each end of the ESC heat shrink to help waterproof both of them.

The waterproofing spray is also a good option for the ESC...it is mentioned ion the thread several times.

Well I asked my flying buddy about using silicone. He said, take something like saran wrap, put it on one surface and then take the silicone and put it in the seam and let it set. then the parts will come apart and leave you with a seal that will work.

Now I have not done this yet. Right now the snow is light and fluffy and I don't need to worry about water right now. I have a couple of months before the lake thaws and becomes liquid again. Sometime in April I suspect.

I do have to put something on the underside of the wing to help keep orentation of the Seawind.
Conehead
Orrin Eldred
Honor, MI.

Yep, I agree re the issue with orientation. The plane is beautiful, but most trainer type planes differentiate the wings with a stripe; one sided bright color..or whatever... I have some flashy metallic Christmas wrapping paper left over. I may do a stripe or two with that. regards, Rich

Anyone figured this out? I am considering constructing gaskets for both openings. Maybe fine silicone tubing, or strips of rubber, foam inulating strips, or something, I have not seen anything yet but will continue looking in Home Depot for a solution.

Any ideas would be welcome. I do not want to encapsulate the electronics. I have it all raised about 1" off the bottom of the bird. The RX is on a Foam block.

Another tip is the wing mount plywood sheld fell off in my hand, I woy remove it and re-epoxy it to the foam for safety.

SWR

Before you use silicon check that it does not eat away the foam. I have ruined my little cessna fuse and the inside of the seawind by using Goop to mount a weight forward.

As far as waterproofing I put fibreglass reinforced tape on the seams of the cockpit. Keeps the water out and is easily removed if you fold a little tab on the end. I also use this to keep the wing on better, along with the screw.

Before you use silicon check that it does not eat away the foam. I have ruined my little cessna fuse and the inside of the seawind by using Goop to mount a weight forward.

As far as waterproofing I put fibreglass reinforced tape on the seams of the cockpit. Keeps the water out and is easily removed if you fold a little tab on the end. I also use this to keep the wing on better, along with the screw.

kevin

Goop is well known to eat foam, as it has some harsh solvents in it.....RTV silicon does not.

I am also interested in sealing the canopy. I am going to put some small screws and glue some retainers in it to assist the magnets, I like the tape idea if it works. I think I will look for thick tape some place. If that red 3m stuff was single sided it would be a winner.

Here are some photos of what I have so far. Notice the Screws on the Wing Mount. They are attached to retainers that are epoxied into the foam. then the whole shooting match is epoxied in also.

Also Note the RX clearance from the hull.

The Screws & retainer on the engine cowl is what I am thinking of for the canopy.

SWR

Images

This has held up for a very long time, the canopy does not come off, and I have had the cockpit with an inch of water (the pilots drowned) and still had minimal water inside. When water gets in it's from behind the wing saddle.

I don't use anything to seal my Seawind. Water has an evil way of getting in the hull no matter how well you seal it up. A different thought is to spray CorrosionX on the electronics to protect them and then not worry about the water getting into the hull.
McD

It was calm and cold here yesterday. In the morning it started out at 27 degrees, but it warmed up nicely and stayed calm. By the time we finished flying it was 74 degrees! Good old Texas. If you don't like the weather, wait 20 minutes and it will change.

Cone, I guess that weather is why you guys have so many great looking planes - lots of building days during the winter.

Checked the Seawind prop balance today as it does vibrate a bit. The prop was waaaay out of balance, have never seen one so bad.
Checking though the instructions, they do say to balance it, but didnt expect it to be so far off.

Was flying it last weekend and it made a nasty motor noise, so brought it down. The motor bearing tube had separated from the front flange. Now wondering if the vibration was a factor.
Glenn.